I played the Demon double pedal today

Hi all,

For those interested, I played Pearls new "Demon" pedal" today.

Just a few notes before getting into this a bit more tomorrow... It has earned it's namesake. Very simply put together with the R & D emphasis seeming to be more centered on feel and response rather than a bunch of quick adjusting perks as the feel and response was totally awesome. Though I gave the pedal a thorough visual once over I made zero adjustments... And though the way it was set was too tight for my taste, it still played awesomely without me making a single change.

Pete I can tell you right off the bat that this pedal is missing at least a couple of the things you like, such as an ajustable hoop clamp and a long board. personally those things or the lack of them rather, never effected me all that much. This thing feels great and for me that's all I really care about... Direct drive is definately the pedal of not even the future but today, right now!

Though I must say at $650.00 for the double and $320.00 for the single, it had better be.

More later. Ive been running all afternoon, into the evening... I's tyhed!

D.

Thanks for the initial review Don,

I've been eyeballin' that pedal, but I've yet to try one.

D.L.

D.L.,

I don't really know if this unit will help anyone do what they already do any better, but I believe
if you're looking to get more out of what you do, this pdeal will help you acheive that be it the double
or the single... You will notice the accuracy and quick response straight away. And from where I sit
this is the area where most of the engineering focus was centered as the physical concept of this
pedal is actually quite simple and straight forward.

Rather than continue my review at this time, I've decided to go back to the store and get pictures.
I will post them here tomorrow.

D.

Also,

I found out that the this pedal comes with a feature where you can convert to a long board...

Cool! I'll check this out more closely when I go back.

D.

Thanks Don,

Here's a demo obviously from a pearl vendor. I would suggest using the HD option on the bottom of the video- much better quality and sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok2vT18AIv4&feature=PlayList&p=D24B55B20A0EE083&index=0&playnext=1

D.L.

Thank you, D.L.,

I played the pedal just as it was and was impressed. With this demonstration you posted, I'm just that much more impressed. I can only imagine had I did some adjustments for myself what feedback I might have been able to gather.

I don't have matching pedals for my dbl bass kit. I'm considering picking up two of these singles.

D.

Tell me something Don, how would you compare it to the dual Iron Cobra ? For response and feel ? Oh and Don, is that your wife over there ?

Hi, Spanky

The Iron Cobra is a great pedal. I have one. But in all honesty, there's nothing like a direct drive. In regard to response, it's like having a 600 H.P. hot rod and being able to get all of those 600 horses to the ground. This can also be said for the Axis and the Trick Pedals. The Pearl Demon is absolutely the smoothest pedal I have ever encountered. And what's even more impressive is they were able to accomplish this without causing the user to lose feel of the pedal. It's smooth but not slippery if you get my point.

I tried the DW 9000's and they were so slippery smooth that they were hard for me to control, they would get away from me. When I play my pedals I need to have some level of what I call resistance feedback.... I need to feel the pedals working with me. The Demon is crazy smooth while still allowing you this. As far as I'm concerned this is an A1 product... Again, it's very simply built from a physical concept. The development of this unit seemed to have been geared more toward it's actual in use function. But make no mistake, the setup options are nothing to sneeze at either.

Pearl used the "K.I.S.S." philosophy with this pedal. and that philosophy seemed to have worked just fine in my opinion.

D.

P.S. The lady in the picture is my chic on the side..... Just kidding! Yes, that's my sweetheart, Audrey! She asked me to tell you hello!

Don you tell that great women that I said Hi and God bless her.

Hey Don,
I tried the Demon Drive double pedal yesterday. I was really impressed with it all around. Very smooth, but comfortable to play.
I was especially pleased that the left or slave pedal was just as responsive as the right, and i really want one of these!!

It's just too much money man...I might have to sell a few things in order to get that one.. Great great pedal though.

I didn't explore every adjustment due to time constraints, but I want to go back and mess with the tensions.

D.L.

Daveonskins wrote:Hey Don,
I tried the Demon Drive double pedal yesterday. I was really impressed with it all around. Very smooth, but comfortable to play.
I was especially pleased that the left or slave pedal was just as responsive as the right, and i really want one of these!!

It's just too much money man...I might have to sell a few things in order to get that one.. Great great pedal though.

I didn't explore every adjustment due to time constraints, but I want to go back and mess with the tensions.

D.L.

Yeah, D.L., This piece will definately set you back a few bucks. But on the other hand so will a really nice well built snare drum. I've seen brand new Demon pedals on ebay for as little as $299.00 for the single and $549.00 for the double.... Free shipping.

D.

I stopped in a Guitar Center today. Went straight for the pedal line-up. Just stood straight and played a pattern then a clean quad, or tried to.

DW - same as ever.
Tama speed cobra long board. Wow.
Demon - felt slow and ... stiff. I was shocked.
another DW - same as ever
The rest in line held no interest for me.

I was delighted with the Tama. The quad came off smooth and clean. I wonder if it was the spring under the footboard that kept it right with my foot?

Anyway, owing to guys messing around with the Demon perhaps it was adjusted too much for me, I don't know. But it did not come close to the action of the Tama. Having played an IC for years this unit leaves the old IC in the dust.

The Pearl felt so slow, and the action had a ... kind of a split action feel to it, like linkage went down then forward or something. Very odd. After all I have read and seen about this thing I was really perplexed why this pedal has such great reviews. My Eliminator also felt slow and stiff. Odd, indeed. Does Pearl use stiffer springs?

I bought my Demon Drive pedal over a year ago back when we were having that discussion about middle pedals . I'm very happy with it .








Peace, TED

The Demon is a great pedal design and
it ought to be having waited until all the
other companies shot it out. It was
strategy for Pearl to wait.

You are right, Don. It is missing a couple
of things but the longboard is not one
of them. This design is convertible. You
can play long or short.

When you try the pedal, do not come to
judgment on your first impression of it.
You should adjust the pedal into all the
positions that are available before you
come to a decision about what it can do
for you and your technique.

The Trick has the trump for me and I will
tell you a secret of secrets in a kind of
cloaked statement: "The Pearl Demon
plays a Trick on us, though not at Trick's
expense."



Regards,

Ah. Riddles.

Got my Trick Yesterday. I admit to not feeling any particular comparison between the two, but as mentioned I tried out the DD for just a few moments.

I don't see any physical identical comparisons. The drive link is shaped somewhat the same. I do remember feeling the DD had an odd, sort of double-motion feel when depressed, same as the Trick, somewhat, though more drastic on the DD.

Other than single post design, and possible forward placement of the beater shaft, much farther forward than most other pedals and cams I've seen ... ?

WARNING. As some of you know I put together a pedal test and the Demon Drive was one of the pedals. When I first got it I used it against a Hart mesh head edrum kick. A black residue began to form and I thought it was just felt dust or something. The same thing happened on the acoustic bass head, so I stopped, and was able to clean it off. Today I went back to the Hart to clean it off and it went into the mesh head, and through the mesh head into the foam block behind it. It's looks hideous. It will not come out with any cleaner I have tried. I just called Pearl. The Rep told me the beater is dyed. Indeed. He put me on hold and went to talk to some people about how to clean it. Googone. But I can guess Googone on this typical upholstery foam will basically melt it. So, while they were nice enough to send me a quad beater for it, the $350 Hart is cosmetically ruined. Maybe I can find a black mesh head out there somewhere.

I told the Pearl Rep there needs to be some kind of warning in the package which tells people about this dye. He said he already mentioned it to product control people.

I remember ranting about the Demon. Since purchasing the Boa,

I no longer have any interest in the Demon.

Besides, I paid $320.00 for a brand new Boa double pedal. I'm good

to go.